Chapter 305: Fighting against the Northern Han again (1)

After Guo Wei's death, Guo Rong immediately rewarded the ministers according to Guo Wei's order: he appointed Prime Minister Feng Dao as the Grand Tutor; he appointed Fan Zhi as the Minister of Shangshu Zuo Pushe, and also compiled the national history; he appointed Li Gu as the Right Pushe, and also the Grand Secretary of Jixian Hall; he promoted Duanming Hall to the Minister of Shangshu Wang Pu as Tongpingzhang. At the same time, Zheng Renhui, the Northern Court envoy of Xuanhui Northern Court, was appointed Wei Renpu as the Deputy Envoy of Privy Council, and granted Fan Aineng, the commander of the left wing of Longjie Army, as the commander of the cavalry of the guards, and He Hui as the commander of the guards' personal infantry. He was appointed Li Chongjin, the commander of the front chief of the palace, as the commander of the Wuxin Army, as the commander of the Taibao; he was appointed General Zhuangwu, as the general of Zhongwu, and Xun as the commander of the upper light army.

Because the situation faced by the Later Zhou Dynasty at this time was much better than that of the same period in history, when Guo Wei died in Zide Hall, Guo Rong did not block the news, but announced the news to the ministers, and the whole country was sad. Three days later, Feng Dao and other old ministers held a ceremony for Guo Rong ascendance under the order of Guo Wei.

It was not just a coincidence but also a blessing from Guo Rong. On the day when Guo Wei ascended the throne, the cloudy weather suddenly turned brighter for many consecutive days, revealing the red sun. Everyone called it a good omen, and even Guo Rong was very happy. After formal refusal, Guo Rong officially succeeded the emperor.

The first thing Guo Rong did after ascending the throne was to order Taichang Qing Tian Min to draft a posthumous title for Guo Wei. Soon Tian Min was given the posthumous title of Emperor Shengshen Gongsu Wenwu Xiao, and the temple name was Taizu.

Just when Guo Rong was busy ascending the throne, Liu Chong of the Later Han Dynasty received the news of Guo Wei's death. He sighed and was overjoyed. He immediately ordered the Privy Councilor to formulate a policy of raising an army to the south, and immediately sent an envoy to the Liao Kingdom, asking the upper country to send troops to assist.

After making many gold, silver, jewelry, food and equipment, the Liao Kingdom agreed to send troops and ordered the governor of the Wuding Army and the government commander Yelu Dilu (Yang Gun) to lead more than 10,000 cavalry to Taiyuan to meet with the Later Han Army.

Liu Chong was relieved when he received reinforcements from the Liao Kingdom, so he personally led 30,000 people to go south and appointed Zhang Yuanhui, the governor of the Yicheng Army, as the commander-in-chief of the vanguard, and joined forces with the Liao army in the Tuanbai area to march south and attacked Luzhou!

Li Yun, the governor of the Zhaoyi Army stationed in Luzhou, was not panicked after receiving the news. Instead, he felt that he had finally waited for the opportunity to make contributions. He immediately sent his confidant subordinate Mu Lingjun to lead two thousand infantry and cavalry to meet the enemy, and he personally led the main force to Taipingyi.

The Later Han army suffered a great loss from Dong Zunhui in Jinzhou last time, and is now extremely cautious, especially Zhang Yuanhui, who led the army, which was the first time that he led the army to fight after the establishment of the Later Han Dynasty, and was extremely careful.

After Zhang Yuanhui and Mu Lingjun came into contact, they pretended to be defeated and retreated, lured Mu Lingjun into the ambush circle, and then the entire army launched a campaign to siege Mu Lingjun's troops.

After Mu Lingjun found out that he was in a panic, he did not panic, but immediately ordered his troops to break through. During the melee, Mu Lingjun died in battle and his troops were defeated. Li Yun, who was eager to rescue them, was also severely injured and could only retreat to the Shangdang area.

Guo Rong soon learned the news, but he didn't know that Li Yun was defeated, so he was not overly worried. The Liao and Han coalition forces had gone south in the past, and they were still bleeding from Jinzhou and beaten by Dong Zunhui! In Guo Rong's view, the Liao and Han coalition forces' southward journey was giving him a chance to establish his prestige!

So Guo Rong planned to go to the imperial army to discuss the matter with all civil and military officials, but unexpectedly he was unanimously opposed by all officials. Everyone said: Liu Chong was defeated in Jinzhou last time, not only did his military strength suffer heavy damage, but his morale was also very low, and he might not have the courage to go on the battlefield in person. The information Li Yun reported was not necessarily true. Now that Your Majesty has just inherited the throne, the people's hearts are not yet settled, and the coffin of the late emperor has not been buried. If Your Majesty is defeated, the people's hearts will easily shake. Our army would be better off acting cautiously and send a general to lead the attack.

Guo Rong shook his head repeatedly: "I think the information reported by Li Yun is very accurate. Liu Chong suffered a heavy blow some time ago, and he hopes to restore morale through a battle. Now that the late emperor has passed away, the world is sad. Liu Chong feels that I am young and easy to bully. He feels that I am finally able to enter the Central Plains. He will definitely lead the army south! Li Yun's new defeat is just in need of boosting morale. If I come to Shangdang, I will definitely boost morale!"

Everyone unanimously advised that, as the head of the civil minister, Feng Dao, despite Dong Zunhui's eyes, inspired and opposed Guo Rongyu's decision to lead the army in person.

Guo Rong said loudly: "In the past, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, pacified the south and marched in person and repeatedly fought in person. Are I still afraid of Liu Chong from Hedong?!"

Looking at Guo Rong with ambitions, the mature Feng Dao remembered Guo Wei's instructions before his death, hoping that he could assist Guo Rong in ascending the throne smoothly and control the government smoothly. Thinking of this, Feng Dao said coldly: "I don't know if Your Majesty is comparing to Emperor Taizong?"

Guo Rong was sad, Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin had made many great achievements. He had just ascended the throne. Although he had ambition that was not inferior to him, he could make him say in public that he was comparable to Li Shimin in front of his ministers, which was to bring shame to himself!

Guo Rong sighed and decided to convince Feng Dao and others. He said in a deep voice: "Although Liu Chong has tens of thousands of troops, he has different orders and is a mob. If he encounters a king's army, it is like an egg hitting a stone. No, an egg hits a mountain and will definitely be defeated!"

Although Guo Rong said something, Feng Dao and others regarded the stability of the court as the top priority. It is better not to cause trouble in this in person! So Feng Dao whispered: "Your Majesty, please ask yourself, is the difference between our Great Zhou and the Northern Han in national strength really Mount Tai and eggs?!"

Guo Rong didn't dare to boast about Haikou anymore. If the national strength of the Later Zhou and Northern Han was so different, then Guo Wei could have won the Northern Han when he was alive, so how could he leave this problem behind?

Guo Rong kept silent, flattered the emperor and shut up the officials who agreed to the imperial rank in person. In the end, only Wang Pu was left. Dong Zunhui and the other two agreed to Guo Rong's decision and were willing to follow the emperor to fight in person! However, although Dong Zunhui is already a fourth-rank official, he has basically no say in a place where the second-rank officials gather.

Finally, he was not alone. Guo Rong looked at Wang Pu and Dong Zunhui and felt warm in his heart. Although the ministers opposed it, Guo Rong was the emperor after all. He immediately ordered the governors from all over the country to summon elite troops and immediately go north to serve the king. Guo Rong also ordered Fan Aineng, He Hui and others to train the guards' personal troops and prepare for war at any time.

During this assembly training, Guo Rong received an urgent report from Luzhou, and saw the blood-splashing memorial read:

"Li Yun, the governor of Zhaoyi Army, was anxious to say that the Hedong rebel Liu Chong was lucky to have a disaster and formed a joint Khitan invasion. The empress went out to guard Taiping Post and sent his general Mu Lingjun to fight, but was ambushed by the thief Zhang Yuanhui, and lured Mu Lingjun to kill him. Most of the soldiers were dispersed! The empress was eager to save people and suffered heavy losses! The empress was rescuing Zhang and the troops were at the inn. The empress had no choice but to return to the city to defend him. He was willing to die and not go. He was willing to wait for the support army. I took the wrong side and took the crime of losing my army. I prayed for the officials to condemn him! I risked my death and was on standby!"

Guo Rong was shocked when he received this article and felt that Feng Dao was saying something. However, this was his first public decision after he ascended the throne. If he regretted it like this, it would be too harmful to the emperor's face! So he secretly told Li Yun's memorial and only found Wang Pu and Wang Pu to discuss the matter, and ordered Dong Zunhui to come and listen to the consultation.

Wang Pu and Wang Pu did not dare to object too much when they saw that the emperor's determination to fight in person remained unchanged. Seeing that the emperor sought his own opinions, the two could only nodded repeatedly and agreed to the emperor's journey north. However, the two requested to recruit soldiers and horses first, meet in Luzhou, and then the entire army headed north to attack the Liao and Han coalition forces.

Guo Rong was very happy to see that someone finally supported him. At the suggestion of Wang Pu, Dong Zunhui and others, Guo Rong issued an edict to secretly order Fu Yanqing, the governor of Tianxiong Army, to march from Cizhou to Luzhou, attack the enemy's rear, and ordered Guo Chong, the governor of Chanzhou, to be the deputy and assist him; ordered Wang Yanchao, the governor of Hezhong, to march from Jinzhou to Luzhou to attack the east of the enemy.

After arranging the flanks, Guo Rong left the Privy Councilor Zheng Renhui to guard the capital and ordered the recruitment of troops to go north. The generals who followed were Fan Aineng, the commander of the Ma Army, He Hui, the commander of the infantry, Bai Chongzan, the governor of Huazhou, Shi Yanchao, the commander of Zhengzhou, and Dong Zunhui, the commander of Zhongwu.

At the same time, Guo Rong ordered Feng Dao to be responsible for the emperor's burial and rushed to the mountain tomb immediately without any mistakes. Feng Dao sighed secretly and followed the order.

Soon, Guo Rong led a large group of troops to Huaizhou. When he got there, he realized that Liu Chong had led his troops south. Guo Rong was anxious and prepared to march to the front line.

Zhao Chao, the commander of the Hexun Commander, felt that it was a bit inappropriate for marching in a hurry, but he did not dare to speak directly to the emperor. So he said to Zheng Haoqian, a member of the Communist Party of China, "The enemy is in a strong momentum, and our army is in a hurry. It is not appropriate to act cautiously to sluggish its aura!"

Zheng Haoqian also felt that he was right, so he made suggestions to Guo Rong, suggesting that the marching be suspended and waiting for reinforcements from the large army.

Guo Rong did not dare to wait any longer. As the saying goes, one move will decline again, and three times will be exhausted. This time he insisted on commanding the army in person, but all the ministers were not optimistic. If he was overwhelmed by the momentum of the Northern Han army, then Guo Wei could think of the ridicule of the officials with his toes!

Guo Rong smiled angrily and said to Zheng Haoqian: "You don't understand military affairs on weekdays, how dare you stop our army from moving forward today? It is obvious that someone is in charge. Hurry up and tell me about the life of that person, otherwise I will be killed by someone!"

Zheng Haoqian looked at the angry Guo Rong and did not dare to cover up Zhao Chao, so he confessed his conversation with him. Guo Rong then ordered someone to arrest Zhao Chao, imprison him and Zheng Haoqian into the Huaizhou military camp, and led the army to continue the marching urgently.

My grandmother's birthday will be celebrated tomorrow. Then I will take my son to celebrate his grandmother's birthday. The update may be a bit late, I hope everyone understands it.

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Chapter completed!